Max stood erect in his fancy new suit of armor he recently made. As he gazed into the full-body mirror, he was amazed by his work and felt a staggering amount of pride. He slowly undid all of the straps to the suit of armor, and after polishing each and every piece, put it away so that he could continue in his work. He'd always had a fascination with the tales of knights in shining armor and that trait drove him to become a blacksmith. He did faithful recreations of historical armor, often selling them to museums to display what the original suit would've looked like along with any and all collectors and enthusiasts of medieval times and culture.
His suit of armor was fashioned after a gothic historical suit displayed in Nuremberg, which he had inspected after visiting Nuremberg for vacation. He made a decent living out of his craft, gaining over the years a reputation for quality made work. He also planned on creating his own weapons, even if they would only gather dust due to there being no true use, besides testing the items. Nonetheless, he returned to his smithy, pulling the bellows several times to heat up the fire. He'd build everything he had with his own two hands, making not only the bellows along with the forge but also used a mold to make his own anvil! He'd slowly accrued tools over time to replace broken ones and tools to make his life easier. As he decided the forge was ready, he pulled out a piece of steel he'd prepared earlier for this job, putting it into the opening. As it reached the head that he wanted, he pulled it out and quickly brought the piece of metal over to his anvil, tapping the anvil once to get a good grip on his hammer, and started his work.
He started out flattening it and making the tang. He made sure to keep the piece fairly straight. As he achieved the desired width, he then began drawing out the blade, using the edge of his anvil to lengthen the blade, without widening it. He eventually reached the desired shape, hammering the tip into a rough shape. As he finished this, he continued and normalized the blade. When normalizing a blade, he heated the sword evenly, until it reached its curie temperature, and pulled it out of the fire. When the blade was finally cooled down, he sanded the blade and started grinding. He shaped the blade into a convex surface and polished the blade while making sure that the guard, handle and hilt fit on properly. He then proceeded to reheat it evenly again, quenching it in a warm barrel of oil. This locked in the hardness, and he then sanded all the scale off. He pulled out his blowtorch to temper the blade, as currently, the sword was hard, yet brittle. By warming up the middle of the blade, he is able to soften that up, allowing the sword to be flexible while still able to hold an edge easily. He sanded it once more, finishing up the assembly and tidied up his workshop. As he was getting ready to lock his shop up, a screen appeared in front of him
Alert! You have been chosen by our venerable goddess to participate in this test. You and 249 other individuals are being tested for access to the System. Test starting in 5 minutes. You opponent is : Mountain Wyvern
Max stared at the screen for a moment, and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining the screen. He stared at it and realized there was only another 3 1/2 minutes left. He panicked, as he figured if this was really happening, he needed to suit himself up. He ran inside, looking around his room in a panic. "What should I have to fight a wyvern?! Uh... lemme think... scales, piercing weapon... flying, easy to move in clothes... uhhh... fuck!" He talked to himself in panic as he grabbed a knife, spear, shield and sword. He decided his street clothes would serve him best, as his armor would just slow him down, which was something that he could not deal with right now. As he rounded up his weapons and finished suiting up, the timer hit 0.
In front of him, stood a wyvern the size of a black bear. While Wyverns were no doubt fearsome foes, they paled in comparison to the famed dragons. He was currently in the forge, when another alert popped up for just a moment
Alert! For the time being, any actions will not have an effect on your surroundings. All destruction will be repaired after the conclusion of the battle. Good Luck!
As the screen disappeared, he heard an ear shattering roar come from the wyvern. He froze, looking at the massive wyvern only several yards away. As he got his wits about himself, he brandished his spear, attempting to get the wyvern away. As the Wyvern lunged towards him, he nearly pissed himself. Out of sheer luck, the wyvern impaled his eye on the spear. It was at this moment, he realized the error of his decision. The spear only went in several inches, eliminating depth perception, but not going into the creature's brain. He should've grabbed something as his scales would've been impossibly hard to the point of not being able to be pierced. The best weapon would've been something blunt, which he then realized. The wyvern reared up like a horse, flapping it's massive wings, buffeting Max away from it, luckily nearer to his smith's hammer. He scrambled up, running over to the weapon. Just as he reached the hammer, the wyvern pounced onto him, dragging him to the floor. As his head struck the ground, he saw stars and lost his purpose for a moment. While he didn't have much room to move, he figured he could do some damage. He pulled the hammer back, and slammed it down on the wyvern's other eye as if his life depended on it. The hammer went through the wyvern's eye like a knife through butter. As he jumped back, he assessed his situation. He looked at the wyvern, noticing a small box above it,
Mountain Wyvern : Level 37
Health :
2,382/5,980 39.8%
Status Debuffs:
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Blind : -100% Vision
Bleeding : -0.5% Heath per Second
As he noticed this window, he got his hopes up. If he was able to hold the wyvern off for just a minute or so, he'd be fine! As he squirmed out of under the Wyvern, he quietly snuck over to the forge. He figured that the beast wouldn't be able to find him if he wasn't heard or smelled. The overpowering smell of the charcoal of the forge should ward off the Wyvern's scent for a short time. He crouched down out of view and waited.
As he finally decided he couldn't take anymore he peeked over the counter to see the Wyvern's dead body. He thanked his lucky stars and walked over to the wyvern. As he approached, he wielded his largest hammer, bringing it up over his head and brought it down on the creature's skull as hard as he could manage.
He felt his hammer go through the thick skull, crushing the Wyvern's head.
Congratulations! You are the first person to finish the trial! As such you get a single boon from your wonderful benefactor!
Congratulations! You are the last person to finish the trial! As such you get a single boon from your wonderful benefactor!
Congratulations! You are the only person to finish the trial! As such you get a single boon from your wonderful benefactor!
When he saw the first window, he felt his chest swell with pride and a wave of relief. As he received the second message, he was extremely confused. How was he able to be first and last? Just as the last screen came up, he realized. He was the only person to survive these trials.
Boon Store BP : 3 Superhuman Strength: x5 Multiplier on Strength Stat BP : 1 Superhuman Agility: x5 Multiplier on Agility Stat BP : 1 Superhuman Dexterity: x5 Multiplier on Dexterity Stat BP : 1 Superhuman Intelligence: x5 Multiplier on Intelligence Stat BP : 1 Superhuman Wisdom: x5 Multiplier on Wisdom Stat BP : 1 Legendary Artifact: Specify an item capable of certain parameters ( 3 attributes possible ) BP : 1 Draconic Blood: Access to High Dragon Race (LOL puny humans no dragons for you) BP : 2
He stared at the options, and one thing quickly came clear to him, the last option was not supposed to be accessible. He didn't know what entity caused this yet, but it clearly didn't guess that everyone would die with the exception of him. He supposed if he was anywhere else other than his shop, it's likely he wouldn't have been able to kill the Wyvern. As he looked at the possibilities, he decided to go for the last two options, Legendary Artifact and Draconic Blood. As he selected Legendary Artifact, another window popped up
Artifact Creation Enter in desired effects. Only allowed to request 3 effects. Some effects may not be valid.
When the screen showed up, a transparent keyboard showed underneath it. He thought over what he would want from this artifact. He knew that it should be something he could use often, otherwise he wouldn't get the full usage out of it. He decided that he'd create an artifact that would be used in his job, blacksmithing. The first thing he decided was a modification to the hammer to guide his hand to spot that needed hammering. As he typed this in, it said 'Accepted'. He thought about it for awhile longer and decided upon another effect. He typed in 'Will strengthen metal it forges, and add additional attributes to the person wielding the effected item' and it once again said 'Accepted. He decided that the last attribute should add in a bonus for the wielder, so he typed in 'Will increase wearer's strength and agility with the hammer ten-fold'. What surprised him, was that it actually applied! He expected to get it rejected. Another window popped up asking him to describe the artifact, and he described his hammer, with a slight modification. He added in that the head of the hammer was to be inscribed with elvish script from the fantasy world made by J.R.R Tolkien. He had the grip made of plush leather and finalized the artifact. As he hit the accept button, he saw the hammer floating in front of him. Just a moment ago, nothing was there and *POOF* it was suddenly there. He marveled at it for a moment before gripping the handle. As soon as he gripped it, he felt power surge through his body. He felt like he could leap over buildings and run across the world in a moment. As he got used to the power, he looked over and decided to pick the Draconic Blood option.
The moment he selected it, he felt a searing pain shoot through his body as he felt his bones cracking and reshaping themselves. He felt an excruciating pain in his back, and as the pain reached a peak, he passed out.
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I wanted to tell you guys, that this will be the shortest chapter that I will release. I plan on making it to 50k words by Monday next week. The only reason I'm releasing this as is, is because I want to get it approved soon. I will attempt to make at least a chapter per day. I would also like to make over 5k words per chapter, however that is not a promise. What I can promise, however, is that I will hit 30k words before Monday. The 50k is a personal goal, but not a promise. I will also make up the for the missing word count in this chapter in the next chapter, adding that onto tomorrows total needed word count! Anyways hope you enjoyed. If you like it, make sure to follow the story and give me some feedback! It's always welcome.
Peace.